Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
From Surviving to Metaviving: A New Rhetorical Formation in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patient Discourse

From Surviving to Metaviving: A New Rhetorical Formation in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patient Discourse

Mengert, Julie

Hardcover

Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Health Communication

General Reference

ISBN10: 1666973106
ISBN13: 9781666973105
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Sep 4 2025
Pages: 136
Weight: 0.77
Height: 0.38 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

As treatments have advanced, metastatic breast cancer has become a disease that some women can live with for years, which has changed the language that women use to discuss living with this form of breast cancer as discussed in this book.

Using the framework of Celeste Condit's rhetorical formations, which includes uses of metaphors, topics, and values, among other rhetorical features, the author examines how language has shifted from one of war and survivor rhetoric to that of metavivor rhetoric, which includes metaphors of water and prison, among others. Another hallmark of this emerging rhetorical formation is existing in a state of liminality where the cancer neither progresses nor retreats, leading to women experiencing time differently. By examining how women discuss living with cancer in an online breast cancer support group, the author analyzes the language shifts taking place and argues that women have moved from the dominant war/survivor rhetorical formation to one grounded in metavivor rhetoric.

Within this evolution comes an understanding of what it means to live with a chronic, yet ultimately, terminal, illness and an acknowledgment of the impact that their lives' perceived time has on these language choices.

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